Jrue Holiday brings solace to fire victims

Before the Clippers game, Holiday and several other Celtics met with three families with young children, and more are expected to attend Thursday’s game against the Lakers as guests of the Celtics.

“Obviously, LA is close to my heart,” Holiday told the Globe. “I still have a place out here, UCLA is right around the corner, and where I went to high school is right around the corner. So to see families just lose everything is hard. I still have family out here who are affected by the fires, so I think trying to bring light to a pretty dim situation is important.”

The families received care packages from the Celtics as well as other memorabilia. Al Horford signed an NBA Finals jersey for a child in one family, and Jaylen Brown autographed two of his All-Star jerseys for another. On Thursday night, Jayson Tatum is planning to meet with a family from his hometown of St. Louis that was previously homeless and received permanent housing in Los Angeles just before being evacuated because of the fires.

Holiday is hopeful that the gifts and interactions will provide some comfort for these families during a dark time, but he and his wife Lauren are exploring ways to do even more through their foundation and their JLH Social Impact Fund. They have put a resource page up on the foundation’s website and are already working with grantees involved in providing relief services.

“I think for me and my wife, just trying to brainstorm to see what we can do to bring people comfort or things they may need at the moment,” Holiday said. “It’s just hard to imagine what happens to them long term. They have young kids who are probably in school somewhere and have to figure out their life now, which is pretty difficult. I feel blessed to be able to help any way I can.”

Adam Himmelsbach can be reached at adam.himmelsbach@globe.com. Follow him @adamhimmelsbach.